This Strange Feeling
by Emerald Guardian
Summary: Knuckles is haunted by the images of Tikal he saw after the Master Emerald was shattered during the Chaos crisis, but a most unlikely "friend" may just be able to help him get through it. Pretty much a oneshot but I need a second chapter to finish it. R
1. Here Without You

**A/N: I decided to take (another) little break from my other story, Until It's Gone, to write this little two-chapter thing. I'm hoping that dabbling with other things simultaneously will get my creative juices flowing for UIG. I also have some unedited parts of a Sonic/Star Wars crossover (where the Sonic characters act out the roles of those in Star Wars (check my profile for more info)) if I ever get around to doing that. Oh well. Hope you guys like this one.**

**Chapter 1: Here Without You**

_"How can I make you understand?"_

Knuckles jerked uneasily in his sleep. Grunting in his state of unconsciousness, he rolled over, trying to find some peaceful sleep.

_"I must do something!"_

A chill traveled down his spine enough to make his long red dreadlocks quiver in their slumber. Cringing his eyelids, the guardian silently pleaded for rest.

_"Please, you must stop him!"_

Knuckles suddenly jolted up, his eyes wide open and deep breaths clutching his lungs. Looking around frantically, the echidna was somewhat relieved to see nothing out of the ordinary: the mountain jutting up into the night sky, the clouds hovering not 100 feet above the floating island, the distant trees of forests sprawling the island, and, of course, the Master Emerald, beaming like a green sun in the twilight of a cool summer night.

But Knuckles could sense much more than just the light shimmering from the powerful stone beside him. He could feel a pulsing sensation tingling his senses as he gazed at the large green gem lying atop the shrine with him. It was not painful, but it was unnerving enough to keep him from lying down again to try and get some sleep. Stubborn as he was, however, he fought against it, embracing the stone summit on which he slept, denying attention to his anxieties. But it was no use.

The echidna squinted as the wind began to pick up, drying his eyes as he struggled to shut them for longer than a few hours. He lay sprawled on the summit of the shrine of the Master Emerald, the breeze blowing through his hair and over his back and along into the night air. But even with the gust in his ears, Knuckles could still hear a distant voice ringing with fear and desperation.

_"I knew this would end in disaster!"_

Knuckles brought his gloved hands to his ears and tried to bury his face into the stone surface beneath him, doing anything to bar the voice and the image from his head. But while he managed to shut out the rest of the world around him, he could not stop her from finding him.

_"Why didn't you listen to me?"_

"Aaaaahhh!" cried Knuckles as he suddenly rose to his feet. He brought a tightly clenched fist into the air and then drove it downward with a force so powerful it cracked through the rock at his feet. Then, with a vicious look burning in his amethyst eyes, he turned to the glowing Master Emerald.

"Why are you haunting me?" he demanded, his fist directed at the source of his nightmares and the reason for his being. "What do you want from me?"

The Emerald made no reply. Not even the voice of the ghost inside his head dared to answer him.

Knuckles could only close his eyes as he faced downward and crossed his arms, trying to make sense of these images. "We stopped Chaos," he muttered in an attempt to reason with the spirit. "The guardian of the Chao is at peace now. All that can be done to make up for what happened thousands of years ago has been done. Your father's mistakes have been atoned for."

Now he opened his eyes and stared directly into the Master Emerald. "So why do I still hear your voice?"

Knuckles waited several minutes for an answer. _Of course_, he thought. _When I want to hear from you, I can't._ Seeing no benefit of looking for something he would never find, Knuckles gave up and turned away. He sat down, arms rested on bent knees as his hands hung helplessly in front of him. Looking down at the spiked gloves he wore, the echidna thought for himself and tried to answer his own question. Why was that echidna girl—_Tikal, that's right_—on his mind so much lately?

He admitted, at least to himself, that he had had a desire to know more about her after the whole Station Square fiasco. But Knuckles had always longed to know more about the ancient people of his tribe. He felt it was only common to have those aspirations. But there was something undeniable about that girl that Knuckles couldn't help but long to think of.

He didn't really know very many girls, and he only felt truly comfortable around a few of those. He didn't think a whole lot of Amy. Her blind love for Sonic drew her to certain danger far too often for her own good, and Knuckles usually found her tagging along with the rest of them more annoying than anything. Cream was a friend and manner-minded girl, but she was young and quite ignorant concerning several worldly principles, and Knuckles did not associate with her all that much. And Rouge…Knuckles' eyes narrowed just thinking about her. He had never known a more conceited individual, and her mysterious mind games were always driving Knuckles crazy. Still, he had to respect her as a rival treasure hunter and martial artist. Knuckles liked to think she put on a show of being independent and carefree while secretly harboring feelings of compassion and the desire to do good. But that didn't stop him from frequently becoming flustered in her presence.

So what did he see in Tikal? For someone who had never even met her, Knuckles felt as though he knew, or envisioned, much about her. He saw her as kind, caring, brave, and pacifistic. She was very principled and stood up for what she believed in. She was sweet with the small Chao that lived in the gardens surrounding the Master Emerald shrine of the ancient times and friendly with the Chaos creature that protected the Chao. She hated only violence and greed, but would oppose even her own father when he overstepped those boundaries. She had a calm, soothing voice that only rose in desperation. She was void of anger. And she was very beautiful….

Knuckles stopped and realized how hot his cheeks had just become. Also noticing his shoulders were tensed up, he took a deep breath to relax himself. He was baffled by why he should be uneasy thinking about a girl he would never know. He did not believe it was his opinion that she was stunning, but that it was mere fact. What was wrong with him thinking about that? If he knew it to be true, why should he have trouble dealing with it?

After some more thinking on the matter, Knuckles came to realize how much he missed Tikal. A strange feeling for never having even acquainted her, but Knuckles could not escape that reality. He had seen those images of her telling him of the fate of her tribe—_their_ tribe—and found himself wanting more of her, as though he were tempted by mere dreams of the echidna girl. He knew she was only a spirit now after all these years, but he still felt as though she were a part of his life somehow. Knuckles had never felt this way about anyone before—not even about those he did know.

After moments of being lost in thought, Knuckles came back to the present time, and felt his body grow fatigued again and his eyelids grow heavy. Confident that he could make it through the night now, he allowed himself to collapse to his sleeping position beside the Master Emerald once more. But before he drifted off, Knuckles resolved to himself to find a way to cope with his dreams and his feelings beginning tomorrow. The guardian of the Master Emerald would not be subject to torturous images and sounds of a girl long gone.

As he felt his eyes finally close for the night, Knuckles could see once again the image of Tikal in front of him, clear as day, pleading to him to save her from her fate.


	2. More Than a Friend

**Chapter 2: More Than a Friend**

Angel Island hung high in the sky even into the morning hours. It had ventured nearer to the shore of the mainland by the time the sun had risen, and now that it was near midday, it had stopped to hover around a vacant beach. The nearest civilizations weren't for miles, so Knuckles was able to drift quietly back to sleep, trying to catch up on some lost shut-eye from nights past. There seemed to be no immediate danger looming anyway, so Knuckles might as well have taken some time to relax and further contemplate his nightmares—if he could even call them that.

Unbeknownst to the guardian, however, someone was watching him. A mysterious shadow glided its way over the grass near the Master Emerald shrine, ominously creeping towards the precious jewel that sat relatively unguarded at the summit of its shrine. The shadow pushed its wings forward to stop itself as it stopped just short of the emerald.

Floating just about ten feet now above the summit of the Master Emerald shrine, Rouge stopped when she managed to catch Knuckles lying in a relaxed position beside the green gem. She raised an eyebrow curiously, wondering how the echidna could justify leaving the Emerald so vulnerable like this. He may not have even known she was there, but that was still unlike Knuckles to be so lax in his duties. Letting her intrigue get the better of her, Rouge silently dropped to the summit, landing not two feet from Knuckles.

Expecting a sudden movement or grunt by the echidna, Rouge did not let herself move for more than a minute. Surely Knuckles could at least sense someone was right there, even if he hadn't heard her land beside him. But the red guardian never moved, save for the rise and fall of his chest as he breathed softly. Still puzzled, Rouge looked at his expression and saw that his eyes, which were closed, looked as if he were cringing at something, like the sun was shining in his face. It became clear to Rouge that Knuckles was, in fact, asleep.

Rouge shrugged. "Oh well," she said quietly. "Guess I'll have to teach him to not be so careless next time." She narrowed her eyes and smiled, not passing up the opportunity to finally get her hands on the Master Emerald. The bat turned to face the giant jewel and slowly walked over to it, her hand slowly coming forward to brush her fingers against it, wanting to feel its precious facets in her fingertips. But the second her glove came into contact with the emerald, Rouge was startled by the sound of a grunt behind her.

She quickly turned around to see Knuckles open his eyes suddenly. His purple eyes immediately locked on to her aqua ones, and he frantically stood up with an angered look on his face. "What do you think you're doing?" he demanded of the bat girl. "Trying to steal the Master Emerald again, huh?" He brought his fists to face her. "I'll teach you to sneak up on me!"

Rouge threw up her hands calmly; she had been through this before. "Cool your jets, Knuckie," she told him. "I didn't come here to steal your precious gem."

Knuckles was obviously taken aback by that revelation, but he did nothing to soften his stance. "Then why are you here?" he asked, narrowing his eyes at the jewel thief.

Rouge remained loose, shrugging her shoulders carelessly. "Just thought I'd drop in and check on my favorite guardian," she said, winking. Knuckles grimaced as she went on. "The island floated over near the beach, and I had nothing better to do."

The echidna scoffed at her. "You think I buy that for a second? I know you're up to no good. Now get outta here. I'm not in the mood to deal with you today Rouge."

Rouge couldn't help but comment. "Are you ever in the mood for me?" she questioned, still smirking at him. But she was surprised to see him turn away from her.

"Just leave," came his response over his shoulder, his arms crossed as he looked out over the hills of the island.

But Rouge was never one to take Knuckles seriously, so instead she walked up to him as casually as ever. "All right, now you've got my curiosity peaked," she admitted. "What's up with you?"

Knuckles did not turn to look at her standing next to him. "Nothing you could understand," he told her flatly before turning to his left, away from her again.

"Oh Knuckles," she sighed with faux emotion. "Didn't anyone ever teach you to not turn your back on a lady?"

Rouge waited for an irritated reply or a red-faced protest, but nothing came. Nothing but a continued cold shoulder.

"Boy, you certainly know how to make a girl feel comfortable—"

"Would you just get out of here!" he yelled suddenly as he turned to her.

Rouge was stunned at his behavior. Her brain was telling her to just let this go and leave the miserable rat to mope all day, but now she felt something compelling her to stay and figure out what was going on. While she fought with her decision to stay, both she and Knuckles remained silent for a few minutes.

Finally, Rouge turned to look at the Master Emerald. Remembering how simply touching it awoke its guardian, she walked over to it and passed her fingers over its faceted surface once more. She turned to look as Knuckles shivered slightly, as if Rouge were dragging her nails along a blackboard. But still, he would not turn to look at her.

"Something's up with you Knuckles," she told him. "And I'm not leaving 'til I find out what it is."

Knuckles grunted. "Why do you care?"

"Because you're bothering me," she admitted.

"Not enough to leave?"

Rouge walked back over to stand next to him. She could feel him tense up, but he stood pat. "What's wrong?" she asked him.

Knuckles sighed and closed his eyes. "If I tell you, will you promise to leave me alone?"

Rouge snorted. "You can't get rid of me that easily. C'mon," she prodded. "Treasure hunter-to-treasure hunter. What's up?"

Knuckles was silent.

Now Rouge was starting to get agitated. "You really wanna be left alone like this?" she asked. "Is that how you solve all your problems, by sulking to yourself? Sweetie, you're never gonna move on from this if you don't speak up."

Knuckles did not budge on his request. "I'll tell you, but once I do, you have to leave. Shouldn't you be thrilled to see me as little as possible?"

"Normally I would," answered the bat. "But today I'm feeling generous."

The guardian managed to smile as he stood by his demand. "All you have to do is say you'll leave."

Rouge sighed. "Fine," she grunted. "Now tell me what's going on."

The echidna was silent for a moment. Rouge was about to prod him before he spoke up. "Have you ever felt…I don't know…infatuated with someone?"

Rouge's eyes went wide for a split second before she answered his question. "Can't say I have. Is that all this is, a crush?" She sounded genuinely disappointed to hear she wasted her time for this.

Knuckles opened his eyes and rolled them. "No," he said. "Not a crush. How can you have a crush on someone you didn't even know?"

"What do you mean?" asked the bat with an eyebrow raised.

Knuckles took a deep breath. "During the whole Chaos incident a few months back, I had visions of my tribe's empire before it was destroyed," he explained. "In every one of them, a girl showed me the shrine of the Master Emerald. Sometimes it was during times of peace, when she conversed with the Chao that lived there. But most of the time, she showed me what happened when her father, the chief, stormed the shrine with his troops to take control of the Chaos Emeralds. When that happened, Chaos emerged from the water surrounding the shrine. Sensing that the girl and the Chao that it protected had been harmed, it lashed out at the troops, destroying them all."

Knuckles stopped to look over at Rouge, who stood silent with a solemn look on her face. The echidna turned to look at the Master Emerald as he continued. "Long story short, the girl, Tikal, managed to seal Chaos—and herself—inside the Master Emerald to stop the creature from destroying the world in its rage."

He walked over to put his own fingertips to the jewel, but of course he did not twitch upon doing it himself. "We stopped Chaos and returned it to its peaceful state. But even to this day, I still get these images of that girl in my sleep and even while I'm awake. It's like…she's haunting me or something. I don't understand. I don't know if she's trying to tell me something or what, but it's been going on for a while now, and I don't get much sleep anymore. I wish I could make it go away, but everything I've tried so far has failed. I don't know what to do."

Knuckles brought his hand down to his side and turned his head to look back at Rouge, waiting to see if she would respond. After a moment of silence, she finally did. "Sounds like I was right, after all," she said.

Knuckles' brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"

Rouge smiled. "Knuckie, you've got a crush on that girl."

The echidna's face grew as red as the hair on his head. "I do not!"

Rouge chuckled. "You're one of the worst beings I've ever known at trying to hide your emotions. Face it; you're head-over-heels for this girl."

Knuckles clenched his jaw and his fists. But his face was still hot. "I don't even know her," he muttered, but it was unclear who exactly he was trying to convince. Rouge wasn't buying any of it.

"You don't have to know someone that well to have feelings for them, you know," Rouge said matter-of-factly. She eyed him for a second and saw that we was still tensed up. "Relax, Knuckie, no one's gonna knock you for being in love."

"I don't do love," he replied through his teeth.

"I see…" said the bat girl knowingly. "Then you wanna tell _me_ why she's on your mind so much?"

Knuckles narrowed his eyes at her and relaxed somewhat. He had to turn to look back at the Master Emerald again like it was some kind of crutch to lean on before speaking again. He appeared to be looking more intently at it this time, almost as if he were looking for something, for the answer he couldn't find himself. Finally, he gave up and turned back to Rouge.

"I don't know…" he said distantly, his voice trailing off.

All the while, Rouge was thinking of her own answers. Something eventually came to her. "You said you're all alone on this island, right?"

Knuckles nodded, visibly comfortable that he could at least answer a simple question again. "All my life," he said.

"And as far as you know, you're the only one of your kind left?"

"Where are you going with this?" he inquired.

"Ya ever thought that you think about this girl so much because she's a part of the tribe you never knew? Another echidna you would have liked to know?"

Knuckles paused. "Well, yeah, I would have liked to know my tribe, but who wouldn't want to know more about their past? I don't see how this explains much."

"Think about it Knuckles," said Rouge. "You don't get off this rock very much…sorry; Angel Island," she corrected herself, rolling her eyes at Knuckles' expression showing his sensitivity to his home. "You naturally want someone to be here with you, and this girl is probably the closest thing you've seen to somebody like you; someone who probably understands you. But you blush when you think about her because she's a girl and you think you love her," she added, much to the echidna's chagrin.

"I do not love her!" he repeated, and his face became red again.

Rouge resisted the temptation to prod him even more and went on. "But isn't the rest of what I said all true? I mean, you'd be no different than anyone else. No one wants to live alone like this all their life. I can tell ya I get lonely sometimes. Why else ya think I come over here like this?" she asked with a provocative wink.

Knuckles tried to ignore the last part of what she said. "I don't mind being alone," he told her. "It's peaceful, and I never have to worry about anyone else but myself. But…sometimes it would be nice to have someone around, someone to talk to about, well, anything. Someone to just spend time with. You know what I mean?" He looked up at Rouge, who was smiling at him in a way he hadn't really seen before. It was strange, because unlike her usual flirtatious smirks, her eyes didn't have a look of mischief or manipulation in them. And Knuckles, unlike his usual reactions to Rouge's subtleties, did not quickly look away or go red in the face or get flustered. Instead, he looked back at her and managed to smile himself, not sure if he could have reacted any other way.

"I know exactly what you mean," Rouge said finally. Looking up at the sun, she realized she had been here longer than expected. "Well, I should probably get going," she said.

She turned away and prepared to fly away when Knuckles spoke up. "You don't have to go, Rouge," she heard him say.

She turned around and looked at him. "Didn't I promise you I would leave you alone after you told me what was wrong?"

Knuckles let a smile creep onto his lips. "You can stay if you want," he said, winking at her this time.

Rouge raised her eyebrows, clearly a little stunned by the change of heart, but she smiled back. "Well it sounds like you could use some company," she said, trying to justify staying there to herself.

Knuckles walked forward to the edge of the shrine where the stairs led down to the dirt path through the grass. "I think I'm gonna take a walk through the forest. Wanna come along?"

Rouge smiled. "As long as you don't try to get all romantic on me," she said, starting to follow the echidna down the stairs.

Knuckles started to laugh. "With you? Not a chance!"

Rouge raised an eyebrow but not enough to rip the smile off her face. "What's that supposed to mean?" she inquired.

"Oh nothing," the echidna replied slyly, quickening his pace to a jog and then a run as Rouge started to chase after him.

"Oh yeah?" said the bat, still grinning. "You better take that back!"

Knuckles went on laughing as Rouge chased him down the path. "You'll have to catch me first!" he shouted to her. Soon enough, though, Rouge caught up to Knuckles and tackled him to the grass, and the two of them rolled down the hill, laughing all the way down like a little boy and girl together on a playground.


End file.
